In the Rockaways, firefighters put out blazes during the storm as residents paddled away from the devastation in kayaks and on surfboards. Chris Tackett of Treehuggerfiled a dispatch about the region after he biked from Brooklyn to the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, where volunteers staged a relief effort.

"It is going to be a long time before the Rockaways are back to some sort
of normal," he wrote. "At this point, they still don't have power and no one knows
how long it will be out. To make matters worse, New York is anticipating
a serious nor'easter to come through in the next day or two, so the
residents that are already suffering in the sub-freezing temperatures at
night will have a deluge of rain or possible snow to add another
challenge to their already difficult lives."